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Speaker 1: We know that the annual report cards for the Northern

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Speaker 1: Territori's major tourism destinations many regions showing positive signs of growth,

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Speaker 1: with the government claiming it's from investment in attractions. We

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Speaker 1: know that in the Greater Darwin Region there were a

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Speaker 1: total of three thousand, six hundred and sorry three hundred

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Speaker 1: and sixty seven thousand driving holidaymakers last year. That's an

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Speaker 1: increase of nine point four percent on the previous year.

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Speaker 1: The report card also shows a slight increase in visitation

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Speaker 1: to the Big Rivers region, with tourists increasing their length

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Speaker 1: of stay from three point one to four point one nights.

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Speaker 1: And the Lacetter Region, which includes Ularu Catajuta as well

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Speaker 1: as many other areas. That report card shows visitations increase

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Speaker 1: by twenty five percent, with expenditure up twenty eight percent.

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Speaker 1: Now joining us on the line to delve into this

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Speaker 1: a bit further is the Tourism Central Australia CEO Daniel Rochford.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Daniel, Good morning Cading, Good morning Talis.

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Speaker 3: Daniel. Tell us your thoughts on this report card? Is

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Speaker 3: it as great as it seems?

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Speaker 2: Well, anything that has a positive is always great. You know,

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Speaker 2: we're cautiously optimistic about the figures. I think the last

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Speaker 2: of the figures, which is obviously the figures or part

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Speaker 2: just one part of our Central Australian Barkley region, is

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Speaker 2: probably more indicative of a return of our international visitors

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Speaker 2: based on previous years. You know, twenty twenty three we

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Speaker 2: were still seeing lower visitation from our core international market.

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Speaker 2: So that has rebounded last year, which is still good,

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Speaker 2: but well well before our pre COVID numbers, of course,

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Speaker 2: so that's still got a little while to go before

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Speaker 2: we're back to pre COVID.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what I had wondered, is whether these numbers

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Speaker 1: were actually pre COVID numbers or whether they're just sort

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Speaker 1: of post COVID. Which, yes, it's great to have that increase,

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Speaker 1: but the reality is some of our businesses have been

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Speaker 1: on their knees for quite some time.

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Speaker 2: Well, absolutely, and you and I've spoken about that pretty

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Speaker 2: strongly over the last few years. COVID obviously the crime

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Speaker 2: impacts as well. You know, there's certainly just some difficult

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Speaker 2: days that our industry has had to stare down. Look,

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Speaker 2: we'll take a trend growth like this any day, and

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Speaker 2: you know, we'll hang on to the positives. But you know,

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day, you know, we're starting

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Speaker 2: to see international visitation return to Central Australia and that's

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Speaker 2: that's positive, but it's you know, we've still got a

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Speaker 2: little while to go before you know, we're back to

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Speaker 2: pre COVID.

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Speaker 1: So tell me what else the report cards showed for

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Speaker 1: Central Australia, but also for the Barkley region.

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Speaker 2: Well we haven't got the report cards for Allison Barkley

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Speaker 2: yet so not too far away. Just the lack of

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Speaker 2: the region which is just earlier a Categua and sort

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Speaker 2: of the southern half of Central Australia, so it includes

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Speaker 2: Kings Canyon and earl Under. You know, those statistics, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's showing cautious optimism that things are coming back and

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Speaker 2: the international visitations you know, slowly calling back. We're still

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Speaker 2: you know, there's some markets that still have not returns

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Speaker 2: compared to pre COVID, in particular, the Japanese market has

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Speaker 2: not come back to where we'd hoped. But we are

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Speaker 2: seeing some green buds of optimism within what we call

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Speaker 2: our Western markets, which are European and American markets. So

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Speaker 2: that's certainly positive. You know, where you know, it's good

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Speaker 2: to see positive and hopefully that will continue.

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Speaker 1: I mean the report card also it tracks the progress

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Speaker 1: of destination management plans, helping identify priorities for future investment.

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Speaker 3: Where would you like to see that further investment.

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Speaker 2: There's no doubt we've been advocating long and loud about

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Speaker 2: the importance of investing in our tourism product and experience.

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Speaker 2: So we seeing the need especially for our Springs around

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Speaker 2: hotel development and also nighttime tourism experiences. One of the

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Speaker 2: things we would love to see now with we've got

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Speaker 2: the new drone show at Ularu and the new light

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Speaker 2: tails at King's Canyon is an iconic nighttime sound and

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Speaker 2: light experience in Alice Springs that's world class. And you know,

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Speaker 2: with that will give us a sound and light trail

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Speaker 2: throughout Central Australia. And you know, when you're on forty

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Speaker 2: degree days in summerhaving your tourism product at nighttime is

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Speaker 2: a really important thing.

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Speaker 3: It sure is.

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Speaker 1: It's a bit it can get very very warm, as

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Speaker 1: any of us who live in well in the Northern Territory,

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Speaker 1: no just about no matter where you are.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so true. And you know, I think you know

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Speaker 2: a lot of our visitors looking for things to do

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Speaker 2: both during the day but also at nighttime. But you know,

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Speaker 2: I think that's going to be really world class. And

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Speaker 2: we've got the running loop road being sealed. You know,

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Speaker 2: the government's currently undertaking the planning and preparation work. You know,

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Speaker 2: the surveyors are out there, was out there recently and

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Speaker 2: there's a whole heap of purple pegs you know along

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Speaker 2: that roll road corridor. We really need to get that sealed.

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Speaker 2: The government needs to find a shovel about the National

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Speaker 2: Aboriginal Art Gallery or the new the new gallery's name,

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Speaker 2: and you know, we need to get moving on these

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Speaker 2: big picture projects.

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Speaker 3: Has that work happened yet on the on the gallery.

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Speaker 2: No, they've They've announced Fidler who is going to be

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Speaker 2: doing the construction, which is great, and you know, I'm

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Speaker 2: expecting that shovel to come out in coming a few

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Speaker 2: days a week. So you know, we're really excited about

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Speaker 2: that project. It's going to be a game changer for

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Speaker 2: a region. We acknowledge that, you know, there's been a

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Speaker 2: lot of controversy in a lot of issues, but our

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Speaker 2: industry is hope and desire is just let's get it done.

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Speaker 3: Daniel.

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Speaker 1: I know that the government has obviously also got their

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Speaker 1: goal of two point eight million visitors by twenty thirty.

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Speaker 3: How do you think they're tracking.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I actually think that's an understated goal. I've always

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Speaker 2: said that's when they rebadcasted. I actually think that we

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Speaker 2: will achieve that. I'm pretty optimistic, and a lot of

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Speaker 2: that's going to be driven by a whole raft of

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Speaker 2: different things that are heading our way. You know, there's

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Speaker 2: obviously inflationary pressures which are creating visitor expenditure to increase.

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Speaker 2: But from a core visitation, we're going to see that

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Speaker 2: rebound of international based on what we were seeing pre COVID,

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Speaker 2: and you know, there's no doubt that we're going to

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Speaker 2: see that market come back. And I'm pretty bullish around

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Speaker 2: that statistic. In fact, if there's one thing I know,

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Speaker 2: it probably not happened, but I actually like them to

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Speaker 2: think a bit higher than that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah right, Well, I mean that's good to hear.

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Speaker 1: And you are always somebody who you know, despite the

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Speaker 1: issues that we've experienced in the Northern Territory and particularly

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Speaker 1: in Central Australia, you are always optimistic and I think

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Speaker 1: that that's a wonderful thing, because we need to see

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Speaker 1: that tourism sector really, you know, really sort of bounce

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Speaker 1: back in a big way.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, very much so. And look, you know, my optimism

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Speaker 2: is very much predicated on you know, we've got to

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Speaker 2: get the Marining Loop for a field, we've got to

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Speaker 2: get the art gallery built, we've got to get new

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Speaker 2: hotel development. So there's a lot of what it's there, Katie,

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Speaker 2: and a lot of those what ifs are in the

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Speaker 2: hands of the government, and you know, we need to

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Speaker 2: make sure that whether it's the current government or our

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Speaker 2: future c or P led government, that they need to

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Speaker 2: focus very strongly on tourism, infrastructure development and pump priming

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Speaker 2: the private sector. The more we can supercharge the tourism industry,

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Speaker 2: we're going to see that net return back to the

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Speaker 2: Northern Territory economy. And that's what we want to see

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Speaker 2: the next six years as we go towards that twenty

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Speaker 2: thirty goal.

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Speaker 1: Well, Tourism Central Australia CEO Daniel Rochford always good to

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Speaker 1: speak with you.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Awesome, Kate, Thank you